


Time and a Half

by spiralxshock



Category: One Piece
Genre: Comedy, Hurt/Comfort, Time Travel, bc lets be honest, sometimes you gotta tell your ast self things are gonna be ok, yeah you read that right its time travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25293205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiralxshock/pseuds/spiralxshock
Summary: A devil fruit user sends Coby and Helmeppo forward two years, and the marines leave their older selves with the job of babysitting. Juggling truth and lie is harder than it sounds, especially when they are faced with thinking up coverups on the spot.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pink_Paradox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pink_Paradox/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for the Pink_Paradox, who happens to be the lovely anon that left me this prompt:
> 
> a devil fruit power that brings a copy of people from about two years in the past to the present time. Conveniently, this is the exact right amount of time for Helmeppo and Coby to be smack in the middle of their first meeting. They're torn between being thrilled at how strong their future selves are and confused by how they ended up friends. Plus the rest of the marines would love teasing them for how different they were! :D
> 
> I changed a few things, but the core is still the same.

It was just one thing after another, it seemed. Helmeppo was still shaken up after the failed transfer of Morgan, and crossing the calm belt hadn’t exactly helped matters. But this was the worst thing so far. A chance encounter with a dangerous pirate was, in itself, no big deal. He and Coby were chore boys. They shouldn’t have been anywhere near the action. The ship had been docked, and they had been watching the encounter from the ship, not daring to try anything. But that pirate… she had made a break for the ship. For them. As if they had been her targets. Maybe they were, for whatever reason. Either way, that was when everything really went wrong.

As soon as they were grabbed, it felt like Helmeppo had been thrown into a wall. Everything ached. His head throbbed, vision blurry as he tried not to be sick. Muffled voices surrounded him as he fell, hitting the ground hard before everything went dark

* * *

“Captain!”

Helmeppo turned at the voice, his conversation with Coby interrupted by the frantic marine. His friend shot him a confused look as the man came to a stop, saluting. 

“What’s going on?” Coby asked, stepping towards the man. 

“Two people just appeared. Vice Admiral Garp thinks you and the Lieutenant Commander should see. They’re… they’re in the infirmary.”

Alright, Helmeppo was officially curious. People couldn’t just appear. Well they could, if a devil fruit was involved, but who would be stupid enough to show up in the middle of Marine headquarters? As Coby began walking, Helmeppo fell into step beside him.

“Any thoughts of what it could be?”

“I don’t know.” Coby shook his head. “Whatever it is, I’d say those people have something to do with us. Otherwise Garp wouldn’t have called for us specifically.”

The two walked in silence the rest of the way. New Marineford’s now-familiar halls were full of activity, marines going here and there trying to stay on top of the latest insane stunts pirates were pulling. Finally arriving in the infirmary did nothing to relieve the tension that had been building during their walk. The lack of answers could only lead to speculation and Garp’s position outside one of the few private rooms did nothing to ease that tension.

“About time you two showed up.”

“What’s going on? We heard two people appeared, but your messenger didn’t exactly tell us much more.” Coby crossed his arms, a worried look on his face. Helmeppo figured he didn’t look much calmer.

“Well it’s definitely a devil fruit. We got that much from them. There isn’t a whole lot we can do for now. You two are just the best people to look after those two.”

“Ok but… who?”

Garp shifted, looking uncomfortable.

“It’s probably best you go see for yourself. They’re inside.”

Well that wasn’t good. He was never fond of ‘you have to see it to believe it’ situations. There was always room for things to get a bit too weird. As Coby opened the door, Helmeppo followed closely behind, allowing the door to swing shut behind him. 

Oh.

Oh now that  _ was _ weird.

There had been a lot of things he was prepared to see on the other side of the door. Himself and Coby, looking the way they did about two years ago- when they had first joined the marines- had not been on that list. 

He absolutely needed to tell Tashigi as soon as they got this sorted out.

Glancing over, he saw Coby looked about as surprised as he felt. It seemed his own theories hadn’t accounted for seeing themselves either. There was only one difference that he could outright see: a glowing number on each of their younger selves' forearms. 2:23:30. Probably an effect of the devil fruit power, if he had to guess.

It hurt to look at the younger version of himself. He wondered how many others looked at him and realized what had been going on. The younger Coby looked much calmer about everything than he did. His own past self had brought a chair in the corner and was sitting there quietly, looking like a scared animal. Even then his posture relaxed some as they entered, looking more confused than anything.

The silence felt like it dragged on forever before Helmeppo finally broke the tension.

“So I know you told Garp about everything, but you wouldn’t mind going over it again, would you?”

“Oh it’s- it’s kind of a long story.” The younger Coby shifted uncomfortably as he spoke. Embarrassed, probably. He knew he would be. Well, he probably already was.

“We’ve got time.”

“Right…” Younger Coby grimaced. “Vice Admiral Garp went after a pirate after we got past the Calm Belt. She came at us, but when she grabbed us we found ourselves here. With these.”

He showed them the mark on his arm. The number had dropped some. So it was a countdown.

“So you really are us from two years go…” Coby’s shock was clear in his voice. Not as clear as the shock on both of their younger selves’ faces when he said it, though. 

“W-wait! You’re us? But that’s impossible!” Man, he really did not miss how high his friend’s voice used to be.

“I don’t see how it’s that impossible. Yeah, you got tall and buff. That happens sometimes.” Helmeppo couldn’t help but grin, even when his friend elbowed him gently. 

“But you’re a captain! You can’t go from chore boy to captain in two years! It can’t be done!”

Helmeppo stepped forward, crouching to be at the younger Coby’s level.

“Trust me, what you did still scares people. But what do I know, I just deal with the people who hate you day in and day out.” 

The younger version of his friend stepped back, looking rightfully terrified.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, most of the time they’re the ones abusing their power.”

“The rest of the time they find out you put ice in your milk.”

Behind him Coby laughed.

“Ok we’re getting off track. We are you two, just two years later. And I’m going to guess those timers are how long you’ll be stuck here. So uh… What do you two want to do? You don’t have to stay in here.”

“We could show you around. Give you some pointers on… I don’t know. Stuff.” He stood up once more, looking towards where his younger self sat still glaring from the corner. “I can give you some tips that’ll make things easier, at least.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie. Sure he couldn’t make the work any easier, but perhaps he could help with the emotional burden he knew his younger self was dealing with.

“I’d like to look around. If you don’t mind, I don’t have to if it’s too much trouble.” Past Coby piped up, voice cracking as he asked.

“Right. I can do that. C’mon uh… little me? I’ll show you around.” 

Coby gestured his younger self over, leaving Helmeppo and the past version of himself alone in the room together. It was for the best, he thought, considering what he was about to do. It was hard enough for Coby to get him to laugh now, and he knew the embarrassment of being seen would just make things worse for his younger self.

He went over to where his younger self sat and sat on the floor a few feet away. Taking his sunglasses off, he set them aside.

“You’ve been quiet. I know that’s odd, even now Coby tells me I never shut up.” He grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

“Really?”

“Well, sort of. He’s a lot nicer about it. Tashigi says it like that, though. Or in a meaner way.”

“I’m not surprised.” His past self seemed to be relaxing some.

“It’s in a fun way, trust me. I’m mean to her too. She’s around here somewhere, if you want to meet her.”

The younger Helmeppo stared at him, and he could just feel the suspicion radiating off of him. He leaned back, resting his weight on his hands. So long as he didn’t look like a threat, chances were his past self would come around.

“Fine.”

Helmeppo grinned, pushing himself up off the floor. 

“Great! Let’s-” A crunch echoed through the room. 

He froze, looking down. The remains of his sunglasses sat broken beneath his foot. His younger self snorted, clearly trying not to laugh. It was an easy enough sign considering he still did it.

“I’m glad you find this funny because I… didn't mean to do that.” He sighed. “Well, come on. They’re not going to get any more broken just standing here.” 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Helmeppo’s younger self stayed close as they walked through the halls. He did what he could to stay in less traveled halls, but the few people they saw gave them odd looks. It wasn’t that big a deal, but he was glad nobody actually asked. 

Eventually they found Tashigi in one of the training yards, sparing with some newer recruits until she caught sight of them waving.

“The one with the glasses is Tashigi. Closest thing we’ll ever have to a sister.” Helmeppo whispered to his past self as she jogged over. The younger him looked confused. Fair enough, he supposed. He wouldn’t meet her for a while. 

“Hey, Helmeppo! Who’s the kid?”

“Funny story, turns out he’s me too. A devil fruit user sent him here, from two years ago.” He turned to his younger self and smiled, but the other’s expression didn’t change from a frown.

“Wow. You were a strange looking kid.” 

“Don’t be rude!”

“Oh, don’t worry. That doesn’t seem to have changed any.”

Their lighthearted bickering continued for a while, back and forth until Tashigi suddenly stopped. She glanced around the training yard, a concerned look on her face.

“Uh… Helmeppo where’d you go?”

“I’m still right here?”

“The younger you.”

“Oh, he’s right-” Helmeppo turned to where his younger self had been standing, only to see the space empty. Well, shit. He didn’t see the other anywhere in the training yard. “I’ve- I’ve got to go.”

He took off at a sprint, trying to think of where his past self would have gone. Somewhere quiet, probably, but on a base that large there were a lot of odd corners that went mostly untraveled. It meant there were some places people never seemed able to get to. Not because they weren’t accessible, but the time needed to find the path was more than most people were willing to put in. There was an out of the way balcony above where he was running, one that he usually had all to himself since nobody bothered to look for it.

Stopping short, he snapped his head up to look at the balcony. There he was. His younger self was looking out over the base, seemingly unaware that he was also being watched. Figured he’d find it. He made his way inside, up the familiar halls and back stairways head grown familiar with. Eventually he made it out to the small stone balcony. 

“There you are. You had me worried.”

His younger self turned, looking startled, before settling back into a distrustful glare.

“Why do you care…”

“Turns out I’m very interested in continuing to exist. So I’d rather not let you get hurt just to see what happens.” He walked over to the stone rail, leaning against it as he stared out over the base. “It won’t be that hard forever. Trust me.”

“Why the hell should I do that? Everyone’s already lying to me.”

“You’re… gonna have to be more specific about that. I don’t remember lying about anything.”

“This isn’t Marineford. I- I know what Marineford looks like. I lived there. This… isn’t it.”

Oh. He’d forgotten about that. It had just become something he’d lived with, and the thought of it being strange to someone from the past completely slipped his mind.

“It wasn’t. Look, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this. All that talk about changing the future and whatever, but you already know something’s different.” He grinned. “People aren’t lying, this really is Marineford. New Marineford. The one we grew up in is still around, but it got… demoted to just a regular base."

“Why’d they move it?”

“All the big name pirates are in the New World. The people at the top figured it’d be best to move HQ to where they were.”

His younger self went quiet. The silence dragged on, but there was no tension in it. 

“You- you said it’d get easier. Do we get our old life back?”

“Old life? No. That’s gone. But our new life is better, trust me. Just... don’t turn your back on Coby.”

“W-why?”

Helmeppo dropped to one knee, grabbing his younger self’s shoulders.

“That guy is about as bad as Luffy when it comes to attracting danger. If you look away for two minutes he’s going to get himself into trouble. I would kill for him but holy shit. Be careful where you leave him.”

The younger Helmeppo was failing to hide a grin at the older’s dramatic outburst. 

“He’s really that bad?”

“Oh he’s awful. Says I’m the one always getting into trouble but I’ve got to keep him from getting killed. Anything will come for him. Pirates, stairs, that one overly dedicated seagull…”

His younger self was laughing now, amused as Helmeppo continued on about keeping track of his friend. Sure he may have left a few major incidents out, but the last thing he needed to do was scare the other. There would be enough time for that later, when the aftershocks of Morgan’s actions had faded some. Even now he could see the mark on the other’s throat, fresh and raw from where his father’s axe had cut him. A mark he still hid under high-collared shirts. 

“It’s getting late. We should probably find the others. Not that it’d matter, you’ll end up where you started anyways.”

The past him nodded, though confusion passed over his face. As they walked back into the base, Helmeppo paused a moment to look back out over the ocean. How had he known that? And Coby knowing it was a timer for how long their past selves would be trapped… He couldn’t remember anything like this happening but it all felt so familiar. Like he’d already been there before. Well, there was no time to dwell on that. The sooner they found the others, the better. He always ate with his friend and he wasn’t about to change that now.

Tomorrow he could show the other some of this base’s secrets. It would be something to do, at least. Something that wouldn’t give away too much of the future but would still be entertaining. They did have two more days to kill, after all...


End file.
